Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE: Across The Universe

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Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 09-30-2007, 05:37 PM:

This film should be thrown Across the Universe, so no one has to watch it.

This is an attempt by Broadway theatre director Julie Taymor and her husband, composer Elliot Goldenthal, to make the Beatles music relevant. It is a story of a seemingly random assortment of people in the late sixties who go through all the troubles and trials of the late sixties and come out OK.

Now I lived through the sixties, and it wasn't as bleak or boring as these people show.

Missed Opportunity -- A character named Maxwell is using a hammer in one scene. Sure looked like time for MAXWELL'S SILVER HAMMER to me!

This film miserably fails the Siskel/Ebert test --- Do You Care About the Characters? Sadly, you do not. They are mostly flat and uninteresting and I wouldn't want to be around any of them.

One bright point is singer Dana Fuchs. This girl can sing and has a true Janis Joplin quality to her voice. She also has an earth motherly attractiveness that puts her above the crowd. I'd like to see her again.

The film isn't pretty, it's just weird. Strange puppets, weird structures, lots of odd looking images with lots of solarization effects.

I would even recommend SGT. PEPPER'S LONELY HEARTS CLUB BAND over this. It's at least silly fun, and it has Earth Wind & Fire doing GOT TO GET YOU INTO MY LIFE (WOW, did that ever sound good in 70mm six track back in the day!)

In spots, both my wife and I thought this film was a bit like XANADU in how it just seemed to throw things in on a whim.
(XANADU is still, in my opinion, the greatest Guilty Pleasure movie of all time, and I love to astound visitors with the last 15 minutes of that film and watch them stare in disbelief at that final number!)

Rating - A "D" on the academic scale. Nice try, but just not very interesting.

This is playing in only one theatre in town, and was in two of the four largest rooms. I don't think they'll be filling those up this week.

An aside, there is a 1976 film using Beatles music that I have never seen, but would love to track down. It has never been released on home video, and even the soundtrack is hard to find. It's called ALL THIS AND WORLD WAR II . It puts Beatles songs to film images from World War II. It features an incredible array singers, and my personal favorite is Frankie Laine's version of MAXWELL'S SILVER HAMMER with symphony accompaniment. Someday, I hope to be able to see this film.

Posted by Mark Ogden (Member # 43) on 09-30-2007, 08:52 PM:

Couldn't agree with you more. I felt like tearing my eyeballs out. Only one bright spot in the whole film, Joe Cocker singing "Come Together" in three different roles.

Other than that, one of the lamest movies I've ever seen, and that's from a huge Beatles fan. Hard to belive they signed off on this POS.

Posted by Frank Angel (Member # 248) on 10-01-2007, 05:53 AM:

XANADU -- Don't even feel the guilt! That choreography was miles ahead of its time....they were doing stuff in that film that Twyla Tharp "invented" years later. Hip-hop movements that became standard manatory moves a decade later. OK, so the graphic effects are a tad hokey (but I would counter by saying they fit the style of the era), and Olivia Nutron Bomb is showing her age (but that downhill slide was evident as early as GREASE) but damn it, who cares, she is a trouper and manages not to look uncomfortable in the couple hundred ghastly outfits she's forced to wear.

But all is forgiven in the finale, which is a marvel to behold. How anyone can come away from that not being awed by the choreography as well as the cinematography on that skating rink is a mystery to me. IMHO, XANADU got a really bad rap. I'm telling you, put it up on a big screen and with a really good sound system (the mix is teriffic) and forget about the critics and just go with it. You'll love it.

Posted by Mark Lensenmayer (Member # 134) on 10-01-2007, 06:41 AM:

Frank, I agree completely. XANADU is a constant surprise: Gene Kelly & Olivia doing a very nice 40's dance number, an animated sequence that comes out of nowhere, that amazing Big Band number with the Tubes, than that final number with roller skates, tumblers, tightrope walkers, dancers, western outfits and then, Olivia rising on a platform. It doesn't pretend to be much, but it sure is a LOT of fun.

Posted by John Wilson (Member # 269) on 10-01-2007, 10:03 AM:

Across The Universe was OK for about 30 minutes. It made a nice short film, unfortunately, it goes on another 90 minutes from there.

Nice to hear The Beatles' music in the booth for a few hours though...just don't make me watch the thing.

Posted by Charles Phillips (Member # 2594) on 11-25-2007, 03:46 PM:

BEST movie EVER!. No, I'm lying.

Posted by Don Anderson (Member # 397) on 11-26-2007, 06:33 PM:

I really enjoyed it too. Could have been about 20-30 shorter, as it dragged in spots. I HATE musicals, but truly liked this film. Gripping images to Beatle songs. [Smile]

Posted by Paul Linfesty (Member # 214) on 11-26-2007, 11:00 PM:

I loved the movie, too! I am not kidding. I saw it a the Arclight in Hollywood and then again in Bakersfield when it finally came here. (THREE times locally for a total of 4) I just got caught up in the feeling of the 60's and the romantic feeling of it all. Ahh, to be young and in love again! (I actually love musicals, and thought they did a great job).